I need help with a mac selection

Hi, so currently, i have a mid 2013 macbook air, since getting it, i just decided that windows is un-usable for me, soon after getting it however, i got into photography and now video editing, next year, hopefully when the new macbook pro/air comes out, I'm hoping to get a new mac. Currently, when i edit multiple photos, it lags severely and crashes, and if i edit videos in 4k, it overheats and crashes and the exportation/conversion takes forever, the last time i tried to export a 10 second clip, it took an entire day of crashes and then when it worked, it took two hours. Im hoping to edit the content in 4k and then export it too 2k. Im going to try out on iMovie first(as its added 4k support) and if i feel it isnt powerful enough for me, ill switch to final cutX. What would be the minimum specs i can get away with too edit comfortable without it taking an heck load of time to export and all that stuff. i'd prefer to have a macbook rather than an iMac, and try not too spend more than £2000 ($3000). ill be heavily photo editing, moderate video editing, and from time to time, i will be using some graphic intensive games.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, i tend to put too much detail in my questions lol.

fabihanski said:

...i have a mid 2013 macbook air...if i edit videos in 4k, it overheats and crashes and the exportation/conversion takes forever, the last time i tried to export a 10 second clip, it took an entire day of crashes and then when it worked, it took two hours. Im hoping to edit the content in 4k and then export it too 2k....

Click to expand...

4k video editing is one of the most difficult things for a computer. Each frame is an 8 megapixel still, which is four times the I/O and CPU load of 1080p. I have a top-spec 2013 MacBook Air -- it is very nice and I have done light HD video editing on it but I would never try 4k.

I do 4k video editing on a top-spec 2013 iMac 27 and a 2015 iMac 27. Even on the 4Ghz iMac with 32GB, 1TB SSD and M395X GPU, 4k editing of H264 can be a little laggy. A single stream of camera native 4k H264 can be edited, but it's faster if I transcode to proxy files in FCP X. For multiple camera edits, proxy files are a requirement. None of that is needed for 1080p HD, so that shows how much more difficult 4k is.

I also have a top-spec 2015 MacBook Pro, and it does OK but it's not as fast as the iMac. The fans spin up a lot sooner, whereas the iMac is quieter. Unless you really need portability I'd suggest the iMac.

In terms of iMac 27 configuration, the most important thing is the CPU and GPU. If possible get the fastest ones. Of course you want 16GB or more RAM. The internal drive can be either Fusion Drive or SSD. Which is best is often debated. Here is the situation with 4k: SSD is fast enough but not nearly big enough. Fusion Drive is big enough for some projects but probably not fast enough considering it's doing OS and app support. So in either case your best strategy is put the media on a fast external drive.

I also edit 4K video. I have a 2010 Mac Pro, 32 GB, 2 internal 500GB SSDs, an internal 7200 RPM 1TB drive and an external USB 3.0 1TB drive. I just finished a 4K - 4 hour project. I use Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 to edit with. I also have FCP X but since I have the whole Adobe Suite and I started editing on Windows machines I stick with Adobe.

I have a mid-2013 13" Macbook Air. In my wildest dreams I would never attempt more than a small iMovie project on it or minor Photoshop work. It is not designed for that. As joema said, a beefy iMac or a high spec Macbook Pro is what you will need. The iMac will do what you want the best but if you must have portability then the Macbook Pro will do.

At minimum I recommend an i7 CPU, the best video card they offer, 16GB or even better, 32GB of memory, an SSD drive or a 1TB or 2TB fusion drive (there internal HDD is a 7200 RPM, the 3TB is reported to be a 5400RPM.) I am not a fan of fusion drives as some have had issues and they are not as fast as the SSDs. I prefer a main drive that is an SSD and then use fast external drives to spread the files out on.

Lisa